Confession: I've never had cream of wheat as a breakfast cereal. I've had it as a savoury curry substrate. And I've used it as an ingredient. But I've never done the hot breakfast cereal thing. So I figured it was time to give it a try.

It came out a bit like cog. Thicker. And obviously more pale and without the corn flavour. But it was pretty similar otherwise. And, honestly, next time I think I'd be inclined to make it with an even higher milk-to-grain ratio next time. Maybe 1/2 c. cream of wheat to 4 c. milk, rather than 3/4 c. cream of wheat.

This was theoretically meant to be made with apricots, cranberries, and almonds. I was all out of dried apricots though, so I swapped in some chopped dried dates instead. I liked it with the dates, but I'd love to try it with apricots sometime too.

Photo goes here.

Cream of Wheat with Dried Fruit

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. cream of wheat/sooj
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. chopped dried apricots (or dates)
• 1/4 c. dried cranberries
• 1/4 c. slivered almonds

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cereal reaches desired consistency.

Masaledar Masoor Dal (Spiced Red Lentil Dal)

I forgot to add the onion to my dal! I mean, it was still delicious! But I'm so mad at myself for forgetting the onion. It was even all sliced and ready to go. I just forgot to sprinkle it on when serving. Oh well... hopefully we can have it with the leftovers.

This is another legume curry that I liked surprisingly much. It contains a lot of cilantro and mint. I was worried that the mint would be overpowering. But it was actually delicious! (And used up some of our huge oversupply of mint. So... bonus!)

I normally wouldn't count herbs as a vegetable. They're seasonings. They're delicious. But you're generally not eating enough of them to be nutritionally significant. But when you're adding 1 1/2 c. of herbs to 1 c. of lentils... at that point, I think it actually does count as a vegetable! And a tasty one at that!

Masaledar Masoor Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split brown lentils (masoor dal/red lentils/Egyptian lentils)
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 c. fresh mint
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 2-4 fresh green serrano, Thai, or finger chilies
• 2 Tbsp. ghee (or canola oil for a vegan option)
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. Punjabi garam masala
• 1 onion, halved and sliced

Directions

1. Thoroughly rinse and drain the lentils.
2. Add to a pot with the water and bring to a boil.
3. Skim off any foam that forms.
4. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tender (10-15 minutes).
5. Meanwhile, add the cilantro, mint, garlic, and chilies to a food processor¹ and pulse until finely chopped.
6. Heat the ghee over medium heat.
7. Add the cumin seeds and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
8. Add the minced herb blend and cook until garlic beings to brown (~5 minutes; longer if you added water to it when chopping).
9. Once the lentils are cooked, add the herb blend to the pot.
10. Stir in the salt and garam masala and simmer until flavours are absorbed (~5 minutes).
11. Serve topped with raw onion slices.

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¹ I don't have a food processor, so I chopped my herbs in the blender with the "food chop" setting. This, unfortunately, doesn't work as well as a food processor, so I had to add a little bit of liquid to get everything to chop. I just drained off some of the lentil cooking water for this. This worked, but did make the herb blend much wetter than it would have otherwise been, which then necessitated cooking it much longer once it was added to the pan. Alternatively, you could also just chop everything by hand. This will take a little more active effort on your part, but will obviate the need to extend the cooking time in the pan. Or, you know, just get a food processor and use that! ^Back

These were okay. Not my favourite, but it was fine. And they were quick and easy to put together.

I ended up making them with whole wheat flour instead of white, because we were out of white flour and the grocery store was completely sold out the last time I was there.

I think some walnuts would have made a nice addition. And they also could have used a bit of cinnamon. Still... they were good overall.

Orange Spice Pancakes

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 1/3 c. orange juice
• 1 tsp. grated orange zest
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Combine flours and and sugar.
2. Sift in baking powder and ground ginger.
3. Add the cinamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt and mix well.
4. Beat the egg, orange zest, and vanilla with the orange juice.
5. Mix in the melted butter.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
7. Add the walnuts (if using) and stir to mix.
8. Heat a tawa or griddle over medium heat. Grease as necessary.
9. Pour some batter into the tawa/pan and cook until bubbles form and edges look dry.
10. Flip and cook until brown on both sides and cooked through.
11. Repeat with remaining batter.
12. Serve pancakes with marmalade and/or butter.

I still had a few passionfruit left over from the discount bulk bag I picked up last week and these passionfruit-banana soufflés looked great, so I obviously had to give them a try!

They were wonderfully easy to put together. And they rose beautifully! (Three of them also deflated dramatically pretty much instantaneously, but they still tasted good. Even if they were no longer as light and fluffy and wonderful as the ones that stayed more inflated.)

Passionfruit-Banana Soufflés

Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 c. sugar, divided
• 5 passionfruit (~100mL of pulp)
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Grease six ramekins and dust them with sugar.
3. Beat the egg yolks with 1/4 c. of the sugar until light and creamy.
4. Stir in the passionfruit pulp and mashed banana.
5. Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until foamy.
6. Continue beating while gradually adding the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar.
7. Beat until stiff peaks form.
8. Stir ~1/3 of the meringue into the base to loosen it.
9. Fold in the remaining meringue.
10. Gently pour or scoop the mixture into the prepared ramekins.
11. Run your thumb around the edges of the ramekins to form a small "moat".
12. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 14-15 minutes.
13. Dust with icing sugar (if desired) and serve immediately.

This is a nice refreshing stir-fry with a generous amount of vegetables in it. The original recipe was somewhat more fiddly about how the vegetables are cut; I've simplified it (here and as cooked) with no ill effects.

Beef & Basil Stir-Fry with Summer Vegetables

From Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan (p. 165)

Ingredients

• ¼ C soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp shaoxing wine
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1+1 Tbsp canola oil
• 500g thinly sliced steak, cut into ~3cm pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp ginger paste
• 2 zucchini or 1 yellow squash, cut into 1cm matchsticks or half-moons
• 2 carrots, cut into 5mm discs
• 125g sugar snap peas, trimmed and halved
• ¼ C fresh Thai basil leaves

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, shaoxing wine, honey, and cornstarch. Buffer.
2. Season the beef with salt and pepper.
3. Heat the first tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat.
4. Add the steak and stir-fry until seared on all sides but still rare inside, ~3 minutes. Remove and buffer.
5. Add the remaining oil, the ginger, and the garlic, and stir-fry until fragrant, 30-60s.
6. Add the zucchini, carrots, and peas and stir-fry for 4 minutes.
7. Add the steak and the sauce and continue stir-frying until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.
8. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil leaves.

I was going to make a banana-ginger oatmeal for breakfast this morning. But then it turned out that we were all out of crystalized ginger. So that was a bust. And most of the other things I'd been looking at either required ingredients or time that I didn't have. And it was already late to be having breakfast. So, in the end, I just asked TF to put together this simple cottage cheese bowl for me. It was actually pretty good! I was going for a banana bread sort of vibe.

I tried it with a full tablespoon of maple syrup this time. But I think next time I might try it with a little less maple syrup, but add a few raisins in instead.

Banana Bread Cottage Cheese Bowl

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 1 Tbsp. chopped walnuts
• 1 Tbsp. raisins (optional)
• 1-2 tsp. maple syrup
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• pinch of ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix and serve.

This was excellent! It's obviously not the healthiest or the most vegetable-rich of vegetable side dishes, but it is very tasty.

Corn & Gruyère Soufflé

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1 c. milk
• 150g gruyère, grated
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cobs
• 5 large egg whites
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Grease a soufflé dish and dust it with the Parmesan.
3. Melt the butter over medium heat.
4. Add the onion and cook until softened (~5 minutes).
5. Add the salt, pepper, and flour and cook until no longer raw (~3 minutes).
6. Add the milk and cook, stirring, until sauce is smooth and thick.
7. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.
8. Beat the egg yolks until creamy (1-2 minutes) and stir them into the sauce.
9. Mix in the corn.
10. In a clean dry bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until stiff.
11. Stir ~1/3 of the egg whites into the sauce.
12. Fold in the remaining egg whites just until no streaks remain.
13. Carefully pour or scoop soufflé mixture into the prepared dish.
14. Bake at 160°C (325°F) for 40-50 minutes. (Soufflé should be slightly jiggly, but not liquid in the centre.)
15. Serve immediately.